The Incident
by Annelikestowrite
Summary: Everyone knew it was a bad idea. Except for the man who made all the decisions. And now two teens will learn what it truly means to be alive. That is if they can keep theirs long enough to figure it all out! A Lizzy/Darcy coming of age...ON HIATUS
1. Prologue

**A new story, this time a Coming of Age Tale starring our favorite characters. Give it a try…**

**THE INCIDENT**

**Prologue**

At one point "The Two" had been unattached entities. They lived miles apart; one excelled academically; the other was into sports. As different as oil and water. Their first encounter occurred in College level English, freshman year. Will Daryl and Lizzy Dennet, were seated alphabetically, one directly in front of the other.

And it began.

"You are such an idiot!" was Lizzy's favorite battle cry. And Will's silent glare of fire warned any away who dared anger him. Of all his opponents, only Lizzy was immune. They would face-off against each other, almost daily, heaving breaths of anger, with screams that rattled every window of the classroom. Their teacher called-in "sick" a record 34 times that year, just to avoid trying to teach them.

Their friends tried to separate them initially, but such tenaciousness wasn't destined to last for long. At the end of the year when Will filled Lizzy's locker with ketchup as a parting gift, the peacemakers finally gave up, comforting each other with the words, "the two of them will work it out eventually."

Sophomore year, mid-semester, Lizzy dumped her Caesar salad over Will's head after he had said she was too prissy for organized sports. Will smelled like anchovies for a week.

Junior year, Will managed to get the video of Lizzy's audition tape for a local musical which was unfortunate because Lizzy was not a particularly skilled singer. Charlie Bin was repeating the well-used mantra, "the two of them will work it out eventually," the moment the video went viral in the school computer lab. All he managed to get out was "the two," before the room was filled with Lizzy's warbling rendition of "It's the Hard-knock life."

After that, their bouts became the stuff of legends, and "The Two" was born.

Senior year, the year of the "incident," Will the school's wrestling champ was headed to the state championships in Las Vegas. And Lizzy, Captain of the science decathlon had convinced Principal Moto to allow the team to go to the Henderson for a National Trivia Challenge at the same time. In an effort to save on costs, Mr. Moto hired only one bus to transport both groups, since Las Vegas and Henderson were neighboring cities. Due to one tiny misunderstanding, neither group was told about the accommodations until just 5 minutes before the bus was due to leave.

"What is _he_ doing here?" Lizzy hissed to Charlie the moment she saw Will approach.

Charlie looked over at the large wrestler and instantly shrank a little, Will was glaring at the pair. Or actually at Lizzy, but at this distance his eyes took on both of them, "There's a wrestling competition down in Las Vegas." Lizzy blanched, _he _was going to be _that_ close? Charlie hastened to reassure her, "I'm sure he's just waiting for the other bus."

As one, the 15 wrestlers suddenly descended upon the decathlon team. "Geeks," Jake Wick, the gruffest of the wrestlers greeted them, 'This is our bus. Find you own."

"Jakey actually knows a complete sentence," Lizzy mockingly applauded. Wick advanced on her his fists clenched, "Go ahead," Lizzy challenged, "Hit a girl. I know some of your teammates have rules about things like that. I'd _hate_ for them to be _disappointed_ in you."

Wick looked behind him at the other wrestlers watching with their arms folded and biceps flexing, "Step away Wick," Fitz their team captain finally spoke. Wick stomped onto the bus and Fitz turned to Lizzy, "Sorry Dennet." Lizzy smiled at the team captain, the nicest of all the wrestlers. Then he and the rest of the team followed after Wick.

"Well I guess _we_ will have to wait for the next bus," Charlie said.

But Lizzy couldn't quite rid her stomach of the sinking feeling that plagued it. "Charlie…" she began to say when the bus driver interrupted, "Everyone on the bus!"

Lizzy looked him over, he was a short man with a frizzy mustache and a large bald head. He didn't look like he could handle an outburst if…or rather _when_ it occurred. "Isn't there a second bus for the decathlon team, sir?"

"Sorry, this is it. You're all going down together."

"But…no!"

The little man shook his head, "I don't make the rules, I just follow them." And in a tone that brooked no opposition, "On the bus!" Lizzy scurried on, amending her previous opinion. Maybe he was tougher than he looked.

Lizzy wasn't especially upset that the wrestlers had taken the back of the bus. Collin got motion sick-he would have to sit at the front anyway, and the science decathletes would never desert one of their own. She wasn't especially upset that the wrestlers were loud and crude; she plugged her mp3 player into her ear buds and started up a soothing and classical playlist and that drowned them out quite nicely. It wasn't even that bad when the decathletes opened their lunches and discovered that Denny had packed spicy sausage and sauerkraut. Crack a window and the odor didn't permeate _that_ badly.

No, it was the moment that the entirety of her 21 oz. Gatorade settled into her bladder that Lizzy realized how awful it was that the wrestlers were at the back of the bus and consequentially closest to the bathroom. The catcalls began the moment she took one step towards them. She immediately looked towards Fitz, hoping he would be the calming influence, but Fitz was sound asleep. And Will was making kissy faces at her, "Hey Liz-bear," he taunted knowing how she hated that nickname, "Just couldn't do without me, huh?"

Lizzy rolled her eyes and ignored him, instead concentrating on keeping her footsteps steady across the vibrating bus floor. Wick stood up to block her path and she froze. "Can we help you, _Liz-Bear?"_ His voice was low and deadly, he had not forgotten about her earlier insult.

"You can let me by," Lizzy tried to keep her voice from quivering.

"I don't think so. Will here doesn't need any _interruptions_," he said suggestively, "You just mosey yourself right back to the front now."

Lizzy resisted the urge to cross her legs as her bladder balked. "Move out of the way Wick, or I'll pee right here on your… hey are those _the_ new wrestling shoes you're wearing?" She asked cheekily, "I hear those are expensive." Wick had made sure the whole school had known just how much they had cost. She quirked an eyebrow, "Are you sure you want to stop me?"

Wick turned bright red, mumbled something incoherent and sat back down in his seat. And Lizzy, triumphant, finished her business at the back of the bus.

Eight plus hours is a long time to be stuck together in such close quarters. Fitz unfortunately slept on, and the wrestlers found they could not resist taunting the science geeks, "Hey don't do any science experiments up there."

"Yeah, we don't want the bus to blow up before our big win."

Lizzy turned around to face them, "For your information, _we_ are going to win our competition, not _you_."

"Ohhhhh! Schooled!" Will mocked.

Lizzy rolled her eyes and turned back around. "Ignore them. Just ignore them."

Charlie frowned, "You're speaking to yourself right?"

"Yes, Charlie!" she snapped.

"Because I'm just saying…"

"Shut up Charlie!" And so Charlie wisely shut up.

"You know what the only purpose of geeks is?" Will yelled to the front, "They make great pizza delivery guys!"

Lizzy almost turned around to tell Will exactly where he could shove such an idiotic and inane comment, but Charlie held her back, "Remember. Ignore them."

"Hey Lizzy!" Wick called, "Was that you I saw making out with an apple at lunch yesterday? Couldn't find a real guy willing to practice with you?"

Lizzy jammed her ear buds back into her ears, and hunkered down in her seat. _Just ignore them._

Finally the bus driver intervened by clearing his throat loudly and the wrestlers found other distractions. Will fiddled with his iPhone, and Wick went to sleep. Lizzy wisely kept her headphones in and her mp3 music loud, just in case.

The students separated in Las Vegas, the wrestlers to their hotel, and the decathletes to their dorms at the College of Southern Nevada. When their parental chaperones finally arrived it was to pull Wick out of the casino, and Sanderson away from the bar, and note that all of the decathletes had long since retired. Separately but similarly, they each decided, "Well it was what we expected."

The rest of the weekend, Lizzy was too busy to spare a thought for Will. And Will hardly thought of Lizzy. When the teams once again boarded the bus, the wrestlers glumly eyed the science geeks large and very shiny trophy and tried to ignore their own empty hands.

"So the nerds won after all," Wick sneered.

"Let it alone, Wick," Fitz muttered.

The science team spent the first few hours of the bus ride home reliving their victory, "I can't believe we won with Einstein's Theory of Relativity," Charlie said jovially. "Who would have guessed it would be so simple!"

The rest of the team cheered. "Lizzy, you were amazing," gushed Collin.

Lizzy only nodded at him. Collin had been rather clingy that weekend. She had tried to avoid him as much as possible, and she purposely turned away now to speak to Charlie, "Where do you think they will put our trophy?"

"Where do you think they'll put our trophy?" Wick mimicked from the back of the bus, "Man! I can't believe we lost!"

A few of the wrestlers around him grunted. Will ignored Wick as best as he could-though his ears did turn a little pink in embarrassment-knowing that _he_ was the reason why they had lost. The Star, and he had choked! His iPhone buzzed in his pocket and he tugged it out. His father. Long sigh.

"Hi dad."

"Son, I just heard the results. You wanna tell me what happened?"

_Thanks for the kick when I'm already down Dad._ "I swear the other guy did an illegal fireman carry…no Dad…" sigh, "…no Dad…I'll try harder next time…Yeah I know college scouts were there…No!...No, sir. I don't want to spend all of Mom's money on school…Me too Dad…Bye!" Will hung up the phone, flinging it at the window. He scowled at it before finally swallowing his anger enough to pick it up, and make sure it still worked. His father would never let him hear the end of it if it was broken. There was a small scratch on the back but other than that it was still intact, and he breathed, relieved.

"Ahhhh! Did Willy break his expensive toy?" How was she always around whenever he needed a moment alone?

"Go away Dennet," Lizzy had never heard such a tone from Will before, nor seen such a look on his face. So Lizzy wise for once, walked away.

Will spent the next few hours looking out of the window, his father words echoing in his ears. It wasn't like Will had intentionally lost the match, though that was what his father had made it sound like. His father was disappointed and he made sure Will knew it.

His father had also spent the few moments of the phone call preaching about money, colleges and minimum wage jobs. Will knew his father didn't make a lot of money, and that he was loath to spend what had been left to him in trust by his deceased wife. Will's only option for attending college was to do so by scholarship. He wasn't smart enough to do it the usual way so he would have to qualify for a Sport's Scholarship.

And now all of his plans were in jeopardy, and his father somehow thought he had done it on purpose! Will felt bad enough. The moment he fell onto his back he had looked up into the stands and sworn he had seen one of the college scouts scowling at him. He rubbed at his face wondering why his eyes were leaking. He wasn't crying, was he?

Lizzy tried to forget that look on Will's face. Certainly she wasn't feeling sorry for him? She tried to distract herself, reciting the Greek alphabet backwards. She only got as far as Sigma when Will's face reappeared looking pained and angry. She felt a stab of pity, and wondered if perhaps she should apologize. "Lizzy, you're losing it," she chided herself.

"Did you say something Mom?" Charlie sighed from beside her.

Lizzy looked at her friend, barely asleep and already talking. She could tease him-Charlie said some immensely amusing when he was asleep if provoked properly, "Nah. Go back to sleep Charlie." Lizzy didn't feel like laughing just now.

Lizzy was grateful when the bus stopped near the Inyo National Forest, she needed a chance to stretch her legs, clear her mind. But when Will got off too with a few of the surlier wrestlers for company, she ducked behind some trees.

_Wick was a complete idiot,_ Will decided, _but at least he is a talkative idiot. _Wick's babbling gave Will other things to think about besides his father's disappointment. Like why _he _had ever recommended Wick for the wrestling team. When Wick started in on Lizzy, Will perked up, "Can you believe she talked to me like that? I'll have to teach her a lesson." Wick's eyes were crazed and Will wondered what kind of _lesson_ he had in mind.

"She'll retaliate," Will assured him, "And trust me, retaliation from Dennet is not something you'll want to deal with." Will remembered the itching powder in his jockstrap, the email spam for Viagra, and the endless stream of door-to-door salesmen, all sent by Lizzy after he had released her audition tape to the school population. It almost hadn't been worth all the trouble it brought him.

"Oh, no D. _Trust me._ She'll be _hurting_ too much to even think about coming after me."

Will advanced towards Wick, his eyes narrowed, "What are you going to do exactly?"

"I think it would be better to keep it to myself. I wouldn't want anything to ruin it."

Will pushed Wick into a tree, knowing just what Wick was capable of, "You leave her alone! I. Mean. It."

"Or what, Will? You _lost_ your last match. I _won_ mine." Wick shoved Will away and walked back towards the bus, calling over his shoulder, "Who do you think is stronger now?"

Will stormed off into the woods, in the opposite direction than Lizzy had gone.

When the bus driver called for a head count, Charlie still asleep answered, "Here," for Lizzy.

And Wick, eyes glinting, answered "Here," for Will. That would teach D to interfere with him!

A quarter of an hour after the bus had pulled away Lizzy and Will were still blissfully unaware that it had left without them.

**And so our story begins…Should I keep it, or toss it?**


	2. Chapter 1

**I was overwhelmed by your words! So I wrote this when I was supposed to be working on finishing up my other fics. Oops**

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**Chapter 1**

When Lizzy was four years old she got lost in the plus department of Macy's. It was the single most detrimental experience of her young life. Her mother had been looking at jeans a few feet away, and the large fur lined coats had seduced the child into approaching. They were so big! She could curl up into one without a bit of her showing. It was like a secret fort, a place only she knew about. It was warm and comfortable and dark, and Lizzy yawned, and wiggled herself in even further. "Lizzy?" her mother called, but Lizzy had already dropped off into the land of Nod.

Frantic, didn't even begin to describe Mrs. Dennet that day, a woman known more for her flights of fancy than common sense. She scoured the store, alerted every employee and had several hissy fits before falling rigidly into a chair and balling her eyes out into an entire box of tissues.

Lizzy on the other hand, woke from her nap, and had the sudden urge to play peek-a-boo with her mom, who was surely just outside her fort. "Peek-a-boo!" She shouted and hoped out. But her mother wasn't there. "Mommy?" She moved to the pants, a bit concerned now, and it only intensified when she saw the area empty.

Lizzy moved out into the aisle, "Mommy?"

Suddenly she was snatched up by a pair of rather large, rather dry hands. Not her mothers. "There you are. Your mother has been looking for you." The man hadn't meant to sound harsh, his voice was rough from years of smoking, and he couldn't help his rather unfortunate skin condition either. Lizzy was terrified, and tried to get away, kicking and screeching, hardly hearing a word he said.

When he deposited her at Mrs. Dennet's feet, after a quick look over, and a hug, Mrs. Dennet wailed, "Child you are going to be the death of me!" It became her mantra from that moment on.

Lizzy's life had changed that day. She had grown up in a weird and frightening way, realizing that already she had passed her mother in understanding and good sense. It is an awful thing to realize at such a young age. It gave her sufficiency, but a jaded life outlook.

And though it was disconcerting and a bit alarming to emerge from the trees and discover, no bus, and not another living soul, save Will Daryl, his eyes bug ged and wide, staring at her, her common sense began its work.

There were the two of them, and the empty parking lot, so she walked towards him. No use shouting across the space between. "Did you hear the bus leave?" How long had he been standing there?

Will ran a hand through his hair, "No! Why are you asking me that? Obviously it isn't here. Isn't that our chiefest concern right now?" Obviously Will did not do well in a crisis situation.

Lizzy mentally shrugged, "I know that," she said calmingly as she took a couple of steps closer to him, "I didn't hear it leave though, and so I don't know how far ahead of us it is. If it was only a few minutes ago they might still realize their mistake and come back for us," she didn't bother mentioning the other option, the one about the bus _not_ coming back because Will looked like he was due to break out in a cold sweat at any moment, "So I'll ask you again. Did you hear the bus leave?"

Will's head began to shake erratically like it wanted to break away from his shoulders, "No…no…didn't hear anything. I'm lost in the middle of nowhere! I'm going to die out here and with only you for company!"

For the very first time in their recorded history, Lizzy reached for Will, touching his cheeks with the tips of her fingers to turn his face to hers. Except for the scratchy bit of five o'clock shadow, it was perfectly normal, soft, warm and entirely boyish. Unexpected. Perhaps in her wildest fantasies she had expected music to begin playing passionately or him to turn into some type of scaly monster and eat her for dinner. But instead of "The Power of Love" being belted out by an unseen choir, Will went completely still, "What are you doing Dennet?"

"Trying to calm you down. You are acting like a girl," Will's nose began to wrinkle and his eyes narrowed, Lizzy continued hastily, "I didn't say you were a girl, I just said you were acting like one. Stop it. We have to face the facts…"

"What, like we're going to die out here?"

_What was his fascination with death?_ "Good. Humor; no matter how morbid," She shook him by the shoulders a little bit to iterate her point, "We are not going to die out here." _Not Yet._ "Since you didn't hear the bus that probably means it's long gone, this was going to be the last stop before we got home. Now we are in the middle of nowhere. We can wait here, but this is a national forest." She looked up at the sky, already twilight as the gentle giant made its exit, "There are probably wild animals around and they will be out soon to feed," Will started to protest, and Lizzy shook him again, "Just listen! There should be a ranger station, or a town or something. We should be able to find one if we follow the main road. I think it is our best chance. We're a bit out of the way here. Maybe there will be cars. It will keep the predators away."

"We could get a ride!" Will shouted exuberantly.

Lizzy shook her head, "No way am I taking a ride from a stranger. Girl Survivial Guide 101."

"Oh…." Will thought about it for a while. "OHHH. I didn't think about that."

"Well see that just proves my point. You aren't a girl," she raised one eyebrow over her impertinent eyes and smiled softly.

Will became agitated; a nice Lizzy? He wasn't quite sure what to do about that, "So which way should we go?" He spoke a little loudly.

"Probably towards home, I didn't notice any towns or stops in the opposite direction, did you?"

Will shook his head. While he had been distracted with thought of the conversation with his father, he had been looking out the window. There had been nothing. Wait. Conversation with his father. On a cell phone. His cell phone! He felt a need to contribute to their survival, whether it was genuine concern or the male ego, he didn't know, "I have my cell phone." He pulled it out. "No service," he muttered. "Maybe?" He began walking the parking lot, his iphone up in the air. "Perhaps closer to the road."

Lizzy pulled out her own, no service. "No good Will. There isn't a tower close enough. National Forests don't allow them."

Will spun back to face her, "How do you know that?"

Lizzy turned red in embarrassment, "I…uh…doesn't matter."

"Lizzy?" Will quirked his head to the side.

He hardly called her Lizzy. In fact, Lizzy could not remember the last time he had done so. Perhaps the first day they had met, right before everything had exploded. Why was he being nice? He wanted more dirt on her, obviously.

"I don't want to talk about it, let's go!" She marched across the lot, towards the road and resolutely turned North.

Will scrambled to keep up with her, his shoes crunching the gravel, "No, I really want to know. How did you know that?"

"Just let it go Will," she gritted out from between her teeth.

Walking down the highway together, the pine trees that framed the road were tall and majestic. In any other setting it would have been lovely. The weather was perfect, a warm spring day cooling under the night sky, but Lizzy hardly noticed it, uncomfortably aware of the boy beside her. Will was simmering in his annoyance, wondering what it was she wasn't telling him. He had asked such a simple question!

Finally he could take it no longer and grabbed her by the arm, stopping her. Just like Lizzy, the first touch was a unique experience. Her skin was so very soft, and her arm was tiny, he could break it if he wanted, if he squeezed just a little harder. She really was very small and vulnerable though her personality made her seem much larger and intimidating. He loosened his fingers so he wouldn't hurt her, "I'm not going to make fun of you. That's not why I want to know. I'm…curious…how did you know about the cell phone towers?"

Lizzy shook off his hand, "Fine! I like to hike, out in the woods. Live off the land, that kind of thing. It's stupid. I mean when I could take things, instead, I leave them behind. It's like a test I guess. I want to know that I can do it."

Will's face brightened, "So I guess I picked the right person to get lost with."

Lizzy looked at him critically, "That's it. That's all you are going to say?"

"I promised."

Lizzy stared at him, "That means a lot to you. A promise."

"Sure," Will shrugged a bit confused, "I promise something I mean it."

"Huh," Lizzy walked on.

"You don't believe that?" Will was incredulous.

"I guess not. Never worked for me."

"You mean you don't keep your word?" Will needled.

Lizzy glared at him, her eyes icy, "Of course I do! I guess I've never been so sure of other people."

Will thought about that, about what she was not saying, about how much she relied on herself. He wondered about her parents. There had been no phone call of congratulations for Lizzy. He had never seen a mother or a father. He wondered what had happened to make her so jaded. So unsure of the world in general, "I like to read," he finally offered.

Lizzy looked at him, her face scrunched, deep in her own despair, "What?"

"Now you have some dirt on me. I thought it was only fair."

"What kind of books?" Lizzy asked before she was aware of it.

Will grinned, "That wasn't the deal. I only had to tell you one thing slightly embarrassing." Lizzy rolled her eyes, "And I did get a uh, a little emotional, uh you know, when I saw that we had been left. So…well you already have a leg up…."

"I suppose I have as much ammo as I could ever wish for now."

Will sighed mockingly, "I'm never going to live it down, am I?"

Lizzy didn't bother answering. This new camaraderie between them was confusing. Not quite uncomfortable, but unexpected none-the-less. So instead, she looked at the trees, naming them to herself, first by family name, then genius, and species. Then she counted the number of times each tree occurred to gauge the demographics. This kept her suitable busy for some time.

"Can we talk about something?" Will abruptly spoke into the rapidly falling gloom.

"What?" Lizzy had just started on the populations of the smaller ground-covering flora, and at Will's question she lost count, "Why?"

"I need some…distraction I guess. I keep…I talked to my Dad today, after the match."

"The team lost, didn't they? I noticed that you didn't have a trophy."

"Like _you_, you mean," Will growled.

Lizzy stopped on the highway's edge, her hands flying to her hips, "Why exactly are you antagonizing me? I wasn't the one who wanted to talk you know!"

"You started it," Will replied childishly.

"I did not!"

"Did to!"

Lizzy stormed ahead, shouting back at him, "And _that, _that is the reason why we will never get along. You are such an idiot!"

"I know you are, but what am I?" Will called back.

In a fit of girlish indignation, Lizzy screeched, "I hate you Will Daryl!"

Will reveled for a minute in her anger. "Yup, still got it." He murmured to himself. But as Lizzy moved further into the gloom and away from Will, something very much like chivalry overcame him, "No! Lizzy, come on, wait!" Will ran to catch up to her. Once again he had taken his frustrations out on her. Lizzy always seemed to be right there whenever he needed a convenient punching bag. And she was irritating enough in her own right to make it all seem like she deserved it. But right now, she was all he had.

Lizzy could hear him catching up to her, and she began to run a little faster. "idiot, idiot, idiot," her brain chanted in cadence.

Will still caught up to her quickly and then matched her pace, "Lizzy, stop! Come on, I'm sorry. Can you at least stop so I can explain? I'm sorry!" He repeated.

Lizzy finally stopped, and turned to him glaring, trying not to breathe too fast. She hadn't run that fast in a long time. Will, the Jerk was hardly winded! "I tried to be nice, you know," she couldn't help but point out.

"I'm sorry!"

"You didn't have to get so angry…"

"I said I'm sorry!" Will snarled, then rubbed his fingers through his hair, tugging at the roots.

"You're angry again."

"Could you for one second, not try to antagonize me?"

"Say's the man who can't do anything but!"

Will turned to face the road and counted slowly to 10. Then he pushed onward to 20. At least she hadn't run away. At 25, he finally felt better. Perhaps they could have a civil conversation, "Why are you always defensive…" he held up a hand as Lizzy tried to interrupt, "No, let me finish. I attack, I know, but it's like you are waiting for it, ready with the next line before I've even said anything."

"You do that too," Lizzy sullenly pointed out.

Will closed his eyes and breathed. "I shouldn't have done it alright?"

"No you shouldn't have," Lizzy crossed her arms across her chest.

"And…aren't you going to say something too? Like maybe I'm sorry for always calling you an idiot or something?"

"But you are an idiot."

Will threw up his hands, "That's it, I can't do this. I'm going back to the parking lot."

"But the animals?"

"Better me than you."

"What do you mean?"

"I have this rule. I don't hit girls. But you're pushing it, you know that! And I thought it would be better if we were separate when I finally do hit something. So what if a cougar gets me?"

Lizzy was a fairly intelligent girl, even in her anger, she realized that she had pushed him a little too far, "No Will, don't go. I'm…sor…sorry," she choked over the word a bit. Why was it so much easier for him to say it. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have called you an idiot."

"You still think it though, everyone does."

His intelligence was a touchy subject, it was obvious to her now, "No they don't. You're actually a smart guy."

"Lying doesn't really suit you." But he had a small smile on his face.

She shoved him a little, "Come on, I sat behind you for a year in English, I saw all of your test papers and essays. Why are you so quiet about your grades?"

He shrugged and fell into step behind her. It was nicer now walking together companionably instead of beside each other but still apart, "I've always been a wrestler, a football defensive lineman, the cross country runner. My Dad always told me that if I wanted to get into college it would be because of sports, not grades."

Lizzy's jaw fell open, "But that's…that's awful. How could he say that? You're smart!"

"Nah, Only about some things."

"Everyone has their foil."

"You mean their kryptonite, like Superman?"

"Yeah." She rubbed at an eye, "You know mine is Physics."

"But you won the trivia challenge!"

She shook her head, "Not me¸ that was Charlie who got the final question right. I floundered at the end. So you see? There are things I'm not smart about."

"I definitely wasn't smart at wrestling this weekend."

"What happened?" Lizzy realized with a cringe that this was what he had wanted to talk about all along.

"I let the pressure get to me. This is it, you know? College scouts looking for new recruits. They were there." He bent and picked up a few pieces of granite from the ground to toss into the underbrush¸ "My team was all behind me chanting, 'Champ…champ…champ,' he tossed one of his rocks against a pine tree and it made a fabulous echo, "It usually helps." He shrugged but it was a jerky motion Lizzy saw. This was really bothering him, "I choked."

"But that can't be it? There must be other chances," Lizzy fumbled.

"Wrestling season is over," Will said ruefully.

"Well there's got to be…what about running. Track is starting up soon! You said you were good at that!" Lizzy felt kind of bad that she actually didn't know how good, or bad Will actually was. Beside her walked her nemesis and she hardly knew a thing about him. Only that he hated being called an idiot, and didn't particularly like being lost in the woods. Or maybe it was just being lost with _her._

"I'm not _that _good!"

"But if you tried harder…"

Will stopped to face her, his patented glare targeting her, "Stop trying to fix this! There is no solution alright? I choked, my future is ruined. Save a copy, send it to print because there is no do over!"

Lizzy stared at him long and very hard, her eyes, crystal blue, seemed to be trying to see down to his very makeup, the layout of his genes. "Is that what your father told you?" She finally asked. He didn't answer, and her eyes ran over him, his feet equally apart, his chest heaving, his eyes, still doing that death glare thing. "He's wrong. Your Dad. There are plenty of do-overs."

"Not for someone like me." He began marching at a frenzied pace, and now it was Lizzy who followed after him, not knowing what to say, but knowing that something _needed_ to be said.

Suddenly she wished that Will had had the opportunity that she had to understand early on that adults aren't always right. That _no one_ was always right. That if we wanted something badly enough, we could get it. But most importantly, she wondered why she suddenly cared about what Will Daryl assumed at all.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

'We're lost."

"Duh."

"No, seriously, I mean it, we're lost. I see…"

"Once more with feeling, duh!"

"Would you listen? I've seen that tree before. You remember the one that looked like Phil the Vice Principal."

"Yeah, so?"

"Right over there," Will pointed off into the distance.

"No it's…oh…" Liz spotted the tree he was pointing to, it's stout trunk grey and flaky. And that one branch with the unusual knot that looked very much like Vice Principal Malone's face, "Okay, so that's the same tree." Liz tugged at her hair, "How can we have circled around when we've been following the same highway?" She looked up at the dark and cloudy sky, "I can't see a thing! I don't even know which direction we're going in!"

Night had already descended fully as it was inclined to do this time of year at roughly 6:27 pm. Another thing that Will hated about Nevada to add to his already large list. With the mountains in the West and flat plain to the East, the sun rose impossibly early and set much the same. This phenomenon further exacerbated his annoyance at being stuck on deserted highway, lost with "Liz-bear" Dennet.

He really hated her sometimes. Not just because of how she treated him, or how she refused to back down in a fight. She was just too difficult to figure out sometimes. Impossibly right about so many things that he would never understand, stupidly optimistic about others that had been drilled into him since almost birth.

So what if she was brilliant when it came to politics and history and all the sciences? Why couldn't she get the local day to day stuff? How could she be so clueless? Even the dimmest of the wrestlers got that kind of stuff-when you had to do your best and when you could relax and take it easy. If the college scouts came, you did your best. Messing up meant the end. Oh sure you could get into an average college on half scholarship, probably. Maybe. There certainly weren't any guarantees.

And how would he be able to afford the rest of the tuition? He couldn't take a dime of his mother's money. Not with Aunt Kathy watching every penny, waiting for the day when one of the "Daryl's" came begging.

He heard Liz panting behind him as she tried to catch up. Maybe she would collapse on the highway from sheer exhaustion. She deserved it!

But then he would be stuck. Leave her on the road? No. Nice guy that he was he would carry her. Touch her. Lizzy was wearing a short sleeve shirt; skin contact would be inevitable. Her warm, soft skin…he could already feel his own prickling at the possibilities. An uneasy feeling settled into his stomach. He slowed.

"You. Walk. Fast!" Liz puffed just as she caught up.

Will shrugged. Liz looked at him out of the corner of her eye; jaw clenched, eyes narrowed; yup, still mad.

The dark shadows of the trees extended over his form, his skin paled considerably in the dim light contrasted with his inky black hair. He reminded her of one of the villains in those old silent movies her grandmother had liked so much. Something stabbed through her heart, something very much like fear, and she didn't like that. Will Daryl was too ridiculous to inspire any such emotion! She watched his gait, smooth and effortless, if only he would trip up, fall into something, anything to lighten the situation.

She was watching him so carefully that somehow she missed it when he pivoted to the right. Her own right foot pushed forward and halted abruptly as it encountered something solid and immovable. Her body pitched forward, her arms flapping, trying to keep her rapidly falling body upright. Her left foot tried to center her tilted center of gravity but it collapsed under her awkwardly as it made contact-rather higher than she had suspected-with the same solid and unmovable object. Her body fell hard and with an "oomph" she collapsed completely.

"Hey, uh, Liz? You alright?" Will's voice trailed off, garbled and suddenly low, "Ah geez…"

Liz's eyes, having closed instinctively as she fell, flew open and locked directly onto a pair of black, unseeing pupils. They were connected to the head of a long-dead deer, its neck quirked at an odd angle, elongated and twisted, and the current resting place of Liz's body. She screamed as she scrambled away, her stomach lurching, every nerve in her body shaking. "That's a…that's a…"

Will nodded, "It's been here for a while too." He pointed, "You see those maggots?"

Liz's body shivered from the top of her head to the ends of each of her toes, "Ugh! It's on me! Eeewwe!" In the center of the highway she began performing an intricate and complicated dance, jumping up and down and brushing roughly at her clothes as her body continued to shiver and spasm.

Will chortled; _Girls! Leave it to them to do the unexpected_, "What are you doing?"

Liz didn't answer, instead from her throat came a strangled guttural scream. It wiped the smile completely off of Will's face, "Liz, are you alright?"

Another terror prickled down her spine, "No! I'm not alright. I just…" she gagged, "I just touched that…" One shaking finger came up and pointed at the deer. Even in the dim light, Will saw as her face, ashen white suddenly transformed into a sickly green. "I…." and she dashed into the underbrush.

Will made to follow her until the sounds of loud retching met his ears. His own stomach began to gurgle in protest and he walked away as best as he could down-wind from the dead beast. He closed his eyes trying to think about anything else besides the deer and the girl puking her guts out in the bushes.

He thought about the book he had been reading that weekend, the one that he had stupidly left on the bus. It was one of the newest best-selling thrillers and would have been nice to have just now. Will was only been about 50 pages in, but already the world was in turmoil and the hero, Matt Northburg was racing to save the day. Matt liked fast women and faster cars.

Will could partially relate. He thought about Matt's car, a supped-up BMW. What he wouldn't give to be able to drive one of those beauties? His own automobile paled in comparison, a '92 Ford Escort known more for its reliability than its ability to do anything, cool. It was currently sitting back at school, off in a corner where hopefully no one would notice it.

Will kicked at a stumpy thistle. Right about now the charter bus would be pulling into the parking lot. Fitz would wake up and yawn, and then as a team they would exit the bus. He would have probably stuck around for a while to talk to his wresting buddies, and then when they all left he would be able steal away to his car and drive home to the comfort of his room and his bed.

Instead, he was lost on a deserted highway with a girl. And not just any girl. Matt would know what to do with Dennet. One with an offensive attitude, a sharper tongue, and who had just tripped over a dead deer. Will cringed. Then again, he doubted that even Matt Northburg would be up to that particular challenge. Will swallowed the painful lump of bile forming in his throat. His thoughts had come full circle again. Why couldn't he keep his mind off of it?

"Will?" Liz's voice was strained as she exited the bushes, tears still coursing down her cheeks. When no answer came, she began to mildly panic. Not for herself of course! No, she panicked because something had obviously happened to Will while she had been losing her lunch. "Will?" Her voice was louder, much louder now and with a hint of terror in it.

Will misunderstood immediately, thinking that she was afraid to be alone after such a harrowing experience; he jogged towards her, "Hey Liz, it's okay."

Him standing before her, all 6 foot 2 inches of muscles and strength, she breathed, relieved and did something that surprised them both. Will stumbled back as the force of her body catapulted into his arms, "I'm so glad you're okay!"

It felt really good to have a soft pair of arms around his neck, Will fumbled a bit awkwardly as he placed his large hands on the small of her back. Immediately Liz stiffened and pulled back, suddenly aware of what she had done, "Where did you go?" She demanded.

Will's arms fell to his sides loosely, 'Uh, I just wanted to get away from…you know." His hand raised to circle in the vague direction of the deer.

Liz shivered, "Did you have to remind me about that?" Her thoughts were all a jumble as she tried not to think about the dead animal, or touching it, or hugging Will. Her brain chose the easiest path and her eyes began to tear up, "The poor thing."

Will's brows knitted, completely confused, "What? That's just…what!"

Liz was in some kind of shock, muttering to herself, "Out here all alone." Her hand brushed away the tears from her cheek, "It looks so, sad. We're all it has!"

Will blinked at her, "Liz? You're starting to scare me."

He had never seen her like this. She turned to him, her eyes wide and crazed, he gulped involuntarily. "We should bury it."

"Excuse me?" The last thing he would have suspected her to say.

Liz's eye narrowed on him and long seconds ticked by before she finally nodded, "Perhaps not. Yes you are right, we don't have shovels," she admitted, "Well at least we should move it out of the road."

Will held up his hands, "No way. No way I'm touching that!"

"But its…I did…" Liz suddenly turned that dangerous shade of green again, "Oh Gads!" And off she dashed for the bushes once more.

"Let's just leave the deer, alright?" He said as she emerged once more. "Come on, let's keep walking. I'm sure there are road crews or something that can take care of it."

Liz nodded while trying to surreptitiously wipe her mouth with the back of her hand. Will gulped thickly and looked away, "So it's a…a dark night."

Complete silence. _Come on Liz! Say something!_

"Why'd you want to bury it?" It was out before he could stop it, and he hoped it didn't send her scurrying for the bushes again.

"It's just so…" she shivered, "So gross! And I touched it. I thought it would make me feel better if it was buried. Like I shouldn't feel so bad about it being gross if I gave it a proper burial."

Will nodded, then shook his head, "That makes no sense!"

"If I buried it maybe it would work like an apology. It's not its fault that it's so disgusting now." She was turning that particular sickly green color again.

"You know, the last time I threw up…?"

Liz interrupted quickly, "Can we not talk about that please?"

Will snorted, clearly exasperated, "Well what else is there to talk about?"

"Well not that! I don't know. I'm just barely keeping it all in here!" She motioned to her stomach.

"Is there anything left?"

Liz laughed, "Probably not!" Then suddenly her step faltered, "Oh gosh! Maybe there is." Her back hunched over her middle protectively.

Will thought quickly, remembering his little brother at home, waiting for him to show up so they could spend some time together before school started for the week, "What's your favorite Disney movie?"

"What?"

"Mine's…" Suddenly he stalled.

"What?"

"No, never mind."

"Oh come on, what is it?"

"Um…Bambi." He finally muttered. She was turning pale again, "I also liked Toy Story!" He quickly added. She looked at him quizzically, "Gotta love those little green guys, right? Whooaaa!" He did a fairly good imitation of their voices. Liz managed to crack a tiny smile, "Oh and Pirates. That's a good one too. I memorized the entire song."

"What song?"

"You know the, "Yo ho, Yo ho, a pirates life for me."

"Why?"

"My brother loves that movie, knows every one of Jack Sparrow's lines. He's only six! He'd answer our front door with, 'I think we've all arrived at a very special place. Spiritually, ecumenically, grammatically.' Always threw everybody for a loop," Will snickered to himself, "When he first heard the 'Pirate's Life for me' song at Disneyland he just had to learn it. We rode that right for an entire day but he just couldn't catch all of the words. So I finally googled it and taught it to him."

She looked at him again, he seemed far away, his eyes hooded and distant, "You have a brother?"

Will nodded, "He's a real Disney nut. This weekend I promised him we would have a movie marathon once I got home." He scratched at his face. Another promise he wouldn't be able to keep!

"How come he's so much younger than you?"

"My mom…uh…she was sick a lot."

Liz mentally kicked herself, remembering the day just 3 years ago when Janice Daryl had died. It was the only day their English class had been quiet that entire year as Will had been excused from all of his classes to spend time at the hospital. "I have 2 sisters," she said stupidly.

"Two more? Of you?"

Liz socked him in the arm, "I happen to be a perfectly normal, quite lovely, well-informed girl!"

Will snorted, "That makes me feel so much better."

"Whatever. I will have you know that my sister Jane had half the boys in her middle school class declare their love for her."

Will rolled his eyes, "Are you the proud older sister then?"

"Nope! Right smack in the middle. Jane is at university now."

"So the attention-starved middle child. That makes a lot of sense."

"Shut-up," she playfully rejoined.

"Is Jane really that pretty?"

Liz shook her head, "Not just pretty, she's beautiful, inside and out. You know Charlie? My friend Charlie Bin?" Will nodded, "He's been in love with her since we were kids. Thinks she hung the moon or something."

"Isn't he a bit young for her?"

"Well yeah, serious robbing the cradle there, but Jane's always been so sweet about it. He wanted to invite her to prom this year. Thankfully I talked him out of that. She would have said yes, just so she wouldn't hurt his feelings."

Will scoffed, "No one is that nice. Especially not a girl!"

Liz raised an eyebrow at him, "And you would know this how?" Will didn't date. At least none of the hopefuls at their high school. Some might say it was a dry spell. Liz construed-and correctly so-that one had to first have a "spell" before it could be considered dry.

Will reddened in embarrassment, "I know enough to stay away from them."

"You bat for the other team then? I wouldn't have thought," Liz smiled at him, slightly mocking.

"Shut up Dennet."

"You could grow your hair out, come to our sleep-over parties. You'd fit right in."

Will turned to face her, his eyes narrowed, "I said, shut up."

"Ooh. Touchy."

"I'm not gay alright! Just leave off. I guess I just haven't…my mom was…no girl could…" He looked determinedly away from her, his pace increasing.

_Way to go Liz, stuck your whole foot in that time didn't you? _She thought about apologizing but she would probably bungle it and set him off, so instead she kept quiet as she plodded along. They had almost been getting along for a moment there and then she had gone and ruined it again. She _was_ one of those girls he was determined to hate!

He had been nice, well as nice as Will Daryl _could_ be about the whole deer thing. Considerate even as he had tried to take her mind off of it. And this was how she had repaid him? A breeze blew through the trees, ruffling the branches, the sounds of them scraping together sounding very much like a chastisement.

Will had slowed ahead of her, he seemed to have cooled down a bit, but it was surely too late to be offering an apology. She watched him walk, enjoying the way his hair curled against his ears and the flattering way his jeans hung off of his hips. _Oh, for the love! Snap out of it Lizzy!_ She reminded herself of an earlier time, back when his insulting words did not bounce off of her as easily as they did now. He deserved her ire! Really he did; and she wasn't about to let this shared trauma turn into anything more than what it really was. They would get out of this and things would be just as they were before.

A distant set of headlights illuminated the highway, an old truck lumbering along by the sound of it. Liz was still a ways behind Will but perhaps she could catch up to him before the car had seen them, "Will! Get out of the road!"

He didn't seem to hear her. She leapt at him, gripped his arm and tried to pull him into the woods, "We've got to hide! It's really late now. There is no telling who that could be."

Will was unmoved by the apprehensiveness in her eyes, "We've been walking for hours! Maybe we should see at least if they will help us. I could use a ride."

"No!" Liz pleaded, "Come on, let's go!"

And it was too late! The car was upon them, a dingy window opened and male voice as rumbly as his truck asked, "Hey kids, need a lift somewhere?"

Everything blurred for Liz, her ears barely hearing Will's response. Her whole body buzzed with a disturbing kind of energy as she remembered this exact scene from a recently popular horror film. The title characters had not survived. Her short life began to flash before her eyes.


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

When Charlie awoke he was surprised to see that Liz was not beside him. He looked at the seats near him, at the other decathletes, but Liz wasn't sitting with any of them. She must be in the bathroom he decided since the only other option involved her sitting nearer to her antagonists the wrestlers. Liz was too smart for that.

Outside the window, light pollution shown on the horizon. They were almost home.

Liz was certainly taking a long time in the bathroom! She must be doing some of those girly things that Charlie didn't want to know about. Charlie purposely changed the direction of his thoughts before they descended into the realms of makeup and hairspray and all those other things that a "manly" man like him shouldn't be interested in.

He concentrated instead on lifting weights, his newest enthusiasm. For his last birthday his mother had taken his rather obvious hints and gotten him the weight set he wanted. One hand raised and squeeze at his forming bicep. Just before this trip he had advanced to bench pressing 100 lbs. As a Taiwanese youth with slight parentage he would never be bulky, but at least he wouldn't feel like he could be laid flat with just a haphazard glare from Will Daryl or one of his ilk.

What could Liz be doing in there? Charlie's reveries had carried him to the outskirts of Reno and still no Liz! He was further unnerved when he saw Liz's bag-purse really-still sitting on the shelf above her seat. If girls did "things" in bathrooms didn't they need the "stuff" in "those" to do them with?

Charlie didn't want to be worrying about all of those things. And he didn't like it that his right foot was idly tapping on the floor, seemingly on its own. He looked behind him towards the back of the bus and the wrestlers. A few sneered but Charlie held his eyes steady as he searched every seat. No Liz.

When his gaze finally settled on the bathroom door and saw that it was occupied, his foot settled at least. She had to still be in there. He kept watch, seconds ticking by, minutes dragging onward, until the door opened and Colin exited, dusting his hands over the front of his jeans. An icy weight the size of a boulder settled onto Charlie's lungs.

Liz was not on the bus! Charlie stood up then, frantically searching every seat again. Wrestler's on the 4 back rows, large space of empty seats and then the decathletes at the front. Liz was not on the bus!

He rushed into the aisle almost upending Colin unsteadily making his way back to his seat, "Have a care Charlie!"

But Charlie barely heard him as he scrambled to the front, "Sir! Sir!" He patted the bus driver on the arm.

"Behind the line boy," one sausage finger jutted at the ground towards the thickly painted white line separating the driver from the rest of the bus' occupants.

"Oh! I'm sorry!" Charlie jumped back behind the line.

"And no touching the bus driver," Charlie's hand was still resting on the man's shoulder.

He snatched it away, "Um…uh…Liz is missing!"

"What is that your teddy bear?"

"No, she's my friend." The bus driver raised his eyebrows, "She was sitting beside me. She's about so tall," his hand raised to about level with his nose, "brown hair, blue eyes…uh she usually wears…'

"She's your seat mate," the bus driver interrupted.

"That means she was sitting beside me right?" The bus driver nodded, "Because, well, yes."

"Maybe she switched seats?"

"No!" Charlie stamped his foot, "No, I already checked that, she's not anywhere!"

The bus driver didn't answer for a long moment. Instead he concentrated on the road ahead, switching lanes to pass a smaller, slower vehicle. "Bathroom?" he finally asked.

Charlie shook his head, "Colin was just in there."

The bus driver's eyes twinkled, "And?"

Charlie scrunched up his nose in confusion. When the meaning of the bus driver's words finally occurred to him, his jaw dropped open. "She wouldn't be in there with Colin!" he hissed once he had reestablished control over his mandible.

"Well since you ain't her, you can't say that for sure now can ya." The bus driver smirked, "Go check!"

"Just go back there and…"

"Get on with it boy!"

So Charlie got on with it. He tripped past Colin again, who was now doing some type of Calisthenics in the aisle way. "Charlie!" he exclaimed as one of Charlie's feet mistakenly kicked him in the side.

"Sorry Colin, so sorry," Charlie stuttered as he went along.

He kept his eyes on his feet as he hurried past the wrestlers, justly intimidated. At the bathroom door closed, and suddenly very ominous-looking, he paused. One fist raised hesitantly he knocked, "Liz?"

A deep and gruffly annoyed voice answered. "What?" Not Liz.

Oh no, with a capital N! It was Jake Wickham, "Um, is Liz in there with you?"

"What?"

_Oh!_ "Obviously not. Nevermind!" Charlie backed away and ran as fast as he was able back down the rumbling and suddenly very narrow aisle until he reached his seat. Hopefully Jake hadn't recognized his voice.

He looked back at the door through the cracks between the seats his eyes wide and terrified. It was still closed. Perhaps he could get to the driver before Jake came out? Then he could fade back into anonymity, and Jake would never have to know that Charlie had dared disturb him, or even had left his seat. Maybe he could feign being asleep again?

He rose to his feet, walked to the front, stayed behind the white line and didn't touch the driver, "She's not there. What do I do?" His words were unsteady and rushed.

The bus driver's hands tightened on the wheel, the only sign that he had heard him.

"Sir?" Charlie started to reach out a hand to shake the man, then thought better of it.

"I called attendance," the driver finally said, "Everyone answered. Get back to your seat. We're on the outskirts of Reno now. Once we're back at the school we'll worry about it then."

Glumly, Charlie walked back to his seat. No matter what the bus driver had dictated, he couldn't help _but_ worry. He sat, trying to get comfortable in his seat as his brain whirled. He worried, he fretted-geez, just like his own mother! He started chewing his nails, a habit he had thought long ago abandoned back in middle school.

The last fifteen minutes of the trip were truly the longest of his life. He missed the bright lights of the casinos winking away in the night, the honks from the weekend travelers, making their way home. He missed the smells of half spoiled meat as Denny once again unearthed his spicy sausage from the confines of his bag.

"Ew Denny! How many of those do you have?"

"I think that has gone bad, man."

"Gross, put it away!"

Charlie stared straight ahead, unseeing, unhearing. What _had_ happened to Liz?

As the bus pulled into the parking lot, everyone began gathering their things together. Denny finished his spicy sausage and Colin re-slipped his retainer back over his teeth so his father would be none the wiser. Charlie grabbed his backpack, looked at Liz's purse, reached for it, changed his mind, then reached for it again grabbing it quickly and stowing it inside his backpack.

When he followed the rest of the students off the bus, the driver told him and everyone else to stop right outside. Then he climbed off of his seat, pounded down the stairs and looked each of them over carefully. He consulted his attendance sheet and counted the students, his mouth working wordlessly. Then, finally, he began calling roll.

When he arrived at Will Daryl a muffled here came from the back, "Who said that?" Up until that point, the bus driver had made sure to make visual contact with each student who spoke up. "Well?" His eyes narrowed as he looked over the group as a whole. No one spoke.

"Is Will Daryl here?" Still, no one spoke.

Finally Fitz said, "No sir! I have checked as well, he is not here."

The bus driver nodded and drew a circle around Will's name with his pen. "Liz Dennet?" No one answered.

"Liz?' Colin suddenly asked; his eyes wide, gleaming terror, "What happened to Liz? Why isn't she here. I must...I must…" Charlie elbowed him in the ribs to be quiet,

"I'll take care of it Colin." Colin looked like he meant to protest, but Charlie refused to back down.

The bus driver finished attendance: Will Daryl and Liz Dennet were missing. "You students," he pointed to the group as a whole, "You may go."

Charlie approached, "But what about Liz?"

Fitz was right behind him, "And Will?"

The bus driver shrugged, "I haven't checked the bus. Are you sure they got on in Vegas?" Both boys nodded. "They're probably just asleep, didn't hear the bus stop. I'll be back."

Charlie looked at Fitz, his arms folded, his eyes puckered in worry. Fitz was the nicest of the wrestlers, but right now he looked like he wanted to punch something, or someone. Charlie backed away, out of range of those fists strained to white in the moonlight.

It didn't take the bus driver very long to complete his search, "Your friends aren't on the bus," he said as soon as he returned.

"What?" Fitz snarled.

The bus driver just rolled his shoulders back and raised his chin, "Don't get snappy. We have protocols for things like this. You both just go on home now and I'll take care of it."

"But…but…" Charlie managed to splutter.

"I'll talk to my boss in the morning."

"The morning!"

The bus driver made a show of checking his watch, "It's late."

"Yes it is! And my friend…and Will, "Charlie thought to add, "Are out there!"

The bus driver brushed it aside, "If they're together, they'll be fine!"

"If you knew them you wouldn't be saying that! They hate each other!"

"Are you certain?" The bus driver waggled his eyebrows.

Charlie felt like punching something now; what was it with this guy! "If they were on the bus in Vegas, how is it possible that they aren't here now?" Fitz asked.

The bus driver looked at him like he'd grown another head, "We made a stop you know. A rest area right outside of Inyo National Forest. If they're smart, they'll still _be_ there waiting for someone to come back for them. I have to get the bus back, or it will be my hide. Someone will go for them in the morning."

Fitz cracked his knuckles, "Not good enough dude! Someone needs to go for them now!"

The bus driver shook his head, "Haven't you heard what I've been saying?"

Charlie ignored him, suddenly feeling courageous, "I'll do it!"

The bus driver threw his hands up in the air, "I wash my hands of the both of you!" He climbed back onto the bus, shut the door with a decisive clunk and drove away.

"I can't believe that guy!" Said Fitz.

"So, do you…do you want to drive or…?"

Fitz looked away, suddenly guilty. An awkward silence descended as Charlie tried to figure out what could possibly make the wrestler look like that. The headlights of a car turned into the parking lot, "That's my ride!" Fitz spoke. He patted Charlie awkwardly on the arm then turned to jog towards the black SUV, just parking.

"But what about Will and Liz?" Charlie shouted after him.

"Hey man, my car is in the shop otherwise I would drive down to Inyo with you. Without wheels I can't help you, I've got no way to get there. I'm sure they'll be okay until tomorrow," Fitz didn't quite look like he meant that, but he climbed into the car anyway.

Charlie turned away once he saw Fitz greet the driver with a rather amorous kiss. He huffed in indignation as he walked to his own vehicle. Why wasn't anyone else concerned about this? Why didn't anyone else care? All of the other students had already driven away. Even Colin who had professed worry was gone! Though Charlie wasn't sure he would have wanted _him_ for company. Easy-going as Charlie was, not even he could like odd little Colin. He felt so alone though, Will and Liz where out in the middle of nowhere! Alone. Together. It was a recipe for disaster.

He pulled his car keys out of his pocket, unlocked the door and got in. Sticking the key into the ignition he turned. Nothing happened save for a faint click and a low cough. "You've got to be kidding me!" He tried again. The car sputtered briefly and died dramatically.

He crawled out of the seat slamming the door angrily behind him. He kicked one of his tires, "Argh!" Ouch.

By now, his was the only car still left in the lot…except for that old-looking Ford Escort sitting in a distant corner. He frowned at it. He had not noticed it before. It was dented and dirty. Must be abandoned.

Reaching into his backpack he pulled out his cellphone to dial home. His father would have a fit when he heard what happened. He had tried to convince Charlie to get something more reliable, but Charlie had liked the sporty lines of the car he had eventually chosen: The one that was now sitting stubbornly dead in the school's parking lot. His father would have to change out of his slippers and pajamas to drive across town and pick up his son. He wouldn't like that. Worse still, Charlie now had no way to go rescue Liz!

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**I've had kind of an "off" week, reviews would surely make me happy! Even a smiley face would do it!**


	5. Chapter 4

**I got sucked into Georgette Heyer novels: Sorry for the wait!**

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**Chapter 4**

"Will!" Liz hissed as she sat uncomfortably beside him in Mr. Sander's ancient truck, "This was not a good idea." The seats were old, tattered, and a particularly stubborn nail was currently boring its way into her back, but that wasn't what made her uncomfortable. "'Never accept rides from strangers,' _I_ told you that! We have no idea who this guy is."

"His name is Mr. Sander," Will replied darkly. He wasn't in a good mood currently wedged between Mr. Sander's rather beefy right thigh and Liz's body. He was in a bit of a pickle trying to decide who he'd rather be touching. Obviously not Mr. Sander. But when his alternative was Liz? "You could have stayed on the road."

Liz's eyes narrowed on him before she turned away to look through the filmy car window, corroded with years of dust and dirt, "I'd have felt awful later though when it turns out that _you _get killed by this maniac," she said under her breath.

"WE are perfectly safe!" Will hissed, just as a burst of thunder shook the truck. Liz whimpered lowly.

"Storm's movin' in," said Mr. Sander. Lightening streaked through the windows of the truck illuminating their savior's battered face: Life didn't look like it had been particularly kind to him. Even with their perennial twinkle, his eyes had been dulled by age and his skin was as worn and tough as weathered leather. He wore faded blue jeans and a once soft flannel shirt, rolled up to the elbows displaying sallow, freckled, but thickly muscled forearms. Liz shuddered.

"Do you get a lot of storms out here?"

"Naah." Mr. Sander shook his head, "But with Winter changing to Spring, all that different temperatures and stuff, it happens sometimes."

"Yes it was rather moist today," Liz piped up, "And warm. I suppose the updraft was more buoyant than usual."

Mr. Sander blinked at her, "I was never smart enough for all of that." He pursed his lips and redirected his attention to the road.

Will rounded on Liz, "Could you just shut up for once?" He asked through tightly gritted teeth.

"But that's what happens!" Liz murmured indignantly.

"So what? You don't always have to "educate" everyone. Geez!"

"Why you!..." Liz started.

"So whereabouts you kids from?" Mr. Sander voice boomed through the cab.

"Reno," Will answered before Liz could shush him.

"Reno eh? Long ways from home. What were you doing in the middle of the highway?"

"Our bus left without us." Liz's hands curled into fists. If anyone needed to stay quiet, it was Will!

"Ah now that's too bad," Mr. Sander answered, but to Liz's ears he didn't sound very sorry at all. Liz gripped the handle at the door, ready at any moment to rip it open and flee. Any minute now, Mr. Sander would strike. Lightening flashed across the sky again.

"At least we're not out in that anymore. Thanks for picking us up," said Will.

"Ah, no trouble. No trouble. You look like you are about my daughter's age. She'd be helpless all alone like that. You see how I just couldn't leave you there?"

Mr. Sanders slowed the truck and swung the wheel, directing the truck onto a partially dirt road traveling directly away from the main highway, "We're almost home now. Just a few more minutes, and then we'll get you set up with a phone so you can call your folks."

Liz sneered to herself, _A likely story._

Just then a fabulous burst of lightening crashed through the trees, not far from the truck. Mr Sander frowned, "That one was mighty close. Hope it didn't hit anything important."

The car hit a hidden dip, and Liz's elbow flew into the window, sharp pain rushing through her arm. Her lungs heaved as she tried to keep from screaming.

"Sorry bout that," apologized Mr. Sander, "I always forget about that one."

Liz wondered if he would still be apologizing as he dismembered their bodies.

Another spark of lightening followed by an unusually loud, and very out-of-place bang.

"That was a big one," said Mr. Sander.

"Something sounded wrong about that one," Liz offered.

"Oh man, here we go again," Will muttered under his breath, "Will you stop arguing with him!"

"I'm not, "Liz whispered, "But I don't think that was thunder."

"So what? Who cares? Why can't you just keep your mouth shut? First the meteorology lesson. Now this! For all your smarts, sometimes you can be really stupid!"

Tears welled up in Liz's eyes as the abject disgust in Will's voice cut her to the core. He had teased her, made lewd comments to her face and behind her back, but this was something different. Instead of being cruel deliberately, he was chastising her. Worse! He was being completely honest! Was that really what he thought of her?

But Mr. Sander had been wrong! That sound hadn't been just thunder. "Who cares?" Will had said. _She_ couldn't stop caring though. She craned her neck and looked up to the sky, the lightening darting and flashing high up in the atmosphere, very unlike the dangerous beast it could be. Thunder on its own could not have made that noise! The lightening had hit something.

Ignoring Will, she gathered her courage and found her voice, "Have things ever been hit by lightning around here?"

Mr. Sander started, "Maybe a couple of trees I guess. Me and the family, the rest of the town really, we live out in the open. We're pretty safe."

Liz nodded, but still felt uncomfortable. It didn't help that Will was still eyeing her suspiciously.

As the rain slowed, the sounds of the truck were amplified in the quieting gloom, belching and swaying as it angled upwards, trying to combat the majestic power of a sudden and very steep hill. Liz waited with bated breath for the prehistoric vehicle to stall and die. She looked over at Mr. Sander. He was whistling, two fingers holding the quaking steering wheel steady. His foot on the gas pedal was already to the floor and they were hardly moving! If he pushed any harder, his foot would go right through the bottom of the truck. Perhaps she could offer to get out and push!

She smiled briefly, then frowned. Will would surely have something cruel to say about that! "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can…" she began chanting to herself. Will looked over at her quizzically, but she ignored him, still mortified, still angry. She had every right to be uncomfortable around Mr. Sander! Will in his stupidity, his male ego-ness, was treating the situation far too lightly. Who was Mr. Sander really?

The truck eased onto the crest of the hill finally and its lights shown over a vast valley devoid of trees, bushes and grass. Defiantly, fighting the gloom stood several cracker box houses stacked nearly on top of one another. Just behind it, barely illuminated stood a bald mountain, coarse and rocky.

That type of mountain looked familiar, "Are you guys some type of miners?" Will elbowed her in the ribs.

"Biggest silver mine in the state!"

"And you live here year round, right?" She thought she had read something about the mining industry somewhere.

"Shut up Liz," Will breathed.

But Mr. Sander didn't sound offended in the least, "Yup My daddy, my grand-daddy before him too." He almost sounded downright proud of his heritage.

"Will your son be a miner too?"

Mr. Sander face turned very grave, impossibly old now that the twinkle had gone from his eye, "No boys, my missus died years ago. Just my girl and me."

"The one our age?" Will's mouth was hanging open as he listened to the exchange between the two, never guessing that Liz could be so conversant. Liz purposely ignored him.

"Oh dang!" Mr. Sander abruptly exclaimed, "What's that?"

A pregnant paused filled the truck, "Well kids I have some bad news, "Mr. Sander finally spoke, "Looks like one of the telephone poles got hit by the lightning. You can see it right down over there." And then more to himself, "That's never happened before."

Will remembered his cell phone and pulled it out of his pocket. Mr. Sander goggled at it, "Still no reception."

"That thing won't work with the telephone poles down," Mr. Sander shook his head.

"Do you mean that you don't have cellphone towers around here?" Liz rolled her eyes in the darkness of the cab. And Will said she lacked tact.

"Is that what one of those things is?" Mr. Sander replied distracted as he angled his truck and parked between two small houses.

The front door of the one of the right flew open and the silhouette of a girl with long dirty blond hair, stood in the doorway. "Daddy?" Her voice penetrated to the interior of the truck.

Mr. Sander's opened the door, "Hi there Caro. I've…"

"The phone line's down. I was talking to Sandy, she had just got to the good part when..." One finger rose, pointing, as Liz climbed out of the cab, "Who's that?"

Mr. Sander started to answer, but once Will exited the truck, it was clear that Caro was no longer listening. She took him all in from the tops of his black converse to his skin tight white tee shirt. Straightening up, Caro jutted her chest out and said, her voice breathy and flirty, "Well hello there."

Will's eyes widened as Caro approached, feeling very much like a stalked prey about to be cornered. He looked towards Liz, but she was watching Caro, her mouth a twisted line of mirth. Caro was looking between the two, and Liz found herself unconsciously edging away from the thinly veiled malice in the other girl's face.

Mr. Sander only rolled his eyes and began to unload his truck.

"You're a big one, aren't you." Caro reached up and rubbed at Will's forearm. He jerked away, "Oh! Ticklish?" Caro giggled. "Daddy? Is he staying with us?"

Mr. Sander nodded, "Caro, would you mind putting out some of the extra sheets on the sofa?"

She jutted a hip out and tossed her head, "No need Daddy," She turned back to Will, "You can stay with me," she purred.

"_Help me,"_ Will mouthed towards Liz. She just managed tochoke down a chuckle.

"Now Caro, I think it would be best if the boy stayed on the sofa, and Miss Liz here bunked with you."

Caro's eye fluttered like there was something caught in it, "Daddy, you can't possible ask me to share my little bed with a…with a…"

Mr. Sander cocked an eyebrow, "Your bed was big enough for the boy here a minute ago."

"But that…"

"Caro," his voice suddenly authoritative with no room for opposition, "The perishables are perishing in the kitchen, and these kids look right tired." The father and daughter stared each other down, until finally with a feminine shrug, Caro walked as gracefully as she could back into the house.

Mr. Sander ignored her and his two guests as he began pulling a few boxes off of his truck. Liz could see the veins in his head throbbing as he tried to move one that looked particularly heavy. Will was still blinking in consternation at his encounter with Caro, "Mr. Sanders, Can I help you?" Liz asked.

He looked over her critically, "You're kind of a small 'un. I have a new bureau in the back but I'm not quite sure you could handle it." Liz could feel her face reddening. "And I'd feel right sorry if you hurt yourself." He held his hands up, "Never ask Caro to do it. Thought I could get Dill from down the street. Perhaps, Will?" Will nodded. "Yes Will. Would you help me with it?"

Liz opened and closed her mouth, but there was little she could say to such a polite refusal. "Now Will, "Mr. Sander continued, "It's one of those kit things. Three boxes. I handled one already but I'd be putting out my back if I didn't get some help with t'other."

"Caro!" He yelled at the house, but there was no answer, "I don't think she can hear me. Miss Liz, would you be kind enough to get the door?" Liz felt out maneuvered as she approached the door, almost like a child who had been denied a favorite treat and was expected to be happy about such kind condescension. Door duty! Even if she was a smaller human, and a female to boot, she was still strong. She could have helped carry that box.

Mr. Sander was shoving the box off of the truck bed now, his face purple with exertion. Will caught the end and grunted, the muscles of his arms bulging and complaining against the weight.

"Now let me get down again and I'll help carry it in," said Mr. Sander; and still neither asked for Liz's help! Torn, she stood, fulfilling her sole duty to keep the rusty screen door propped open. Surely an extra pair of hands would be helpful! But Mr. Sander had declined. So kindly too: Not an ounce of patronizing in his tone. Exactly the same way he had handled his own daughter.

Mr. Sanders was smarter than Liz had given him credit for. It humbled her, but made her suspicious. What could he have planned for them?

She followed the two men into the house, looking around at the small sitting area with a mismatched blue recliner and flowered sofa that had seen better days. The carpet was matted down with age. Other than that the room appeared tidy but cramped. Sagging stairs led up to the second floor on the left, and there was a small kitchen to the right at the back. Caro was nowhere to be seen.

Mr. Sander led Will to the only empty corner of the room, "Let's put it down here." He wiped the sweat from his brow, "Phew! I was gonna build it tonight, but I think I best wait until the morning."

He rubbed his hands together, "Now what to do with the two of you?" The hairs on the back of Liz's neck stood at attention, and she judged the distance between herself and the front door. Mr. Sander pushed Will towards the kitchen and motioned for Liz to follow, "Caro probably already ate but perhaps there are some leftovers."

Caro voice sounded as she began climbing down the stairs, "Just a roast but I'm sure you'll like it Will. Everybody likes my roast." She cast a negligent eye at Liz, "And I suppose there's some for you too."

Liz bit her lip, and hard. Whatever Mr. Sanders had in store for them, it was certainly going to be interesting with Caro around.


End file.
